Stone Age toolkit found in Siberia

Neanderthals may have lived as far north as the Arctic Circle up to 33,000 years ago, say scientists who found a Stone Age toolkit at a prehistoric archaeological site by Russia's northern Ural mountains.

The collection of more than 300 stone tools at Byzovaya in Siberia were made by Neanderthals living at what must have been one of the most northerly outposts of their range, which extended to western Europe and the Rock of Gibraltar.

The region was not covered by massive glaciers, but it was considerably colder than today. Neanderthals, who had short limbs, thick-set frames and strong jaws, disappeared about 25,000 years ago. They would have hunted game, including mammoth, woolly rhino and musk ox.